When I was asked to be the Interim Director of the library I had a problem. I mentioned this at the end of the last post.
Why had God allowed me to pursue something like the Apprentice Experience, why had I gone through the effort of trying to start a ministry, why was I passing myself off as Spiritual Formation expert through blogging and mentoring if God’s plan for me was to have a management position full of paper work, budgets, staffing headaches, and limited resources? What was the point of all of my efforts to help others Grow Up if God had something unrelated in mind. This is not what I asked for.
Still, I was willing to be obedient, I was willing to fill the role and fulfill my obligations, but I couldn’t see past the drudgery and the administrative aspects that I knew I would hate. One evening after a day of work and trying to ride the wave of all that was going on, I was walking to my car and it hit me. In a revelatory way that is a Godly mixture of surprise and perfect sense, it was laid before me that, “why can’t you do both?”
Yes, I could do both. I could bring all that I have learned through the Apprentice Experience, through my years of studying and caring about issues of Spiritual Growth, and my care for other people’s spiritual life and blend it into my role in running a library. I was at Dallas Baptist University for crying out loud, it wasn’t like I would be barred from bringing the spiritual into the workplace? I began to envision a work environment where our staff could connect and care for one another, where our student workers could grow and develop as adults, professionals, and believers, and our student patrons could be inspired, invigorated, and blessed by our work. God helped me see a library that could be a beacon of light and learning on the campus.
Just minutes before, I was dreading the next to-do item, the next crisis, the next urgent moment of overwhelm. Now, after God told me I could do both, ideas started flooding into my mind. I had inspiration after inspiration for ways to develop our staff, to enrich our spiritual lives, and to serve our students. I went from being just a person with added responsibility to a leader who had the inspiration and the Spirit-led direction to change things up, to try out new things, and to attempt to be who Christ would be if he were name Interim Library Director.
What did I have to lose? So I gave it a shot.
Find out what I have tried and how God has worked in Part 3 on Monday.
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